


Changes

by Echosrevenge



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Canon and non-Canon pairings in passing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-02
Updated: 2013-11-02
Packaged: 2017-12-31 07:26:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1028896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Echosrevenge/pseuds/Echosrevenge
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set right after Oz comes back in season four. It goes AU after Oz is freed from the initiative. He has actually been badly injured and has to be carried out of the Initiative.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Changes

"What are we going to do with him," Buffy asked once they were all safely away from the Initiative, or at least as safe as they could be. "I've got to get Riley into hiding, but Oz needs to be somewhere cleaner and closer to a hospital then under the school."

"I'll take him," Xander said when no one spoke up. "I don't have to go back to work for a few days and I know enough about first aid to take care of him. Giles has to keep the fangless wonder though. I don't have room for both of them."

"Thanks," Willow said quietly. "I'll come by to help and bring you some food and stuff, but there's no way to keep him in our dorm room."

"It's alright, really," Xander said and that's how he found himself helping Giles carry an unconcious Oz down into his basement twenty minutes later. Xander realized he was going to have to sleep on the couch. There was room on the bed for both of him, but Oz didn't need someone moving around on the bed while he was trying to heal.

Giles went over the timetable on when to change the bandages then left after promising to make sure Willow would bring over more first aid supplies the next day.

"So, here we are," Xander said once he was sure the basement was locked up and he had moved to sit on the edge of the bed. "Can't say I didn't think about you in my bed a few times before, but you belonged to Willow. I'm really sorry I didn't know about her and Tara. She hadn't told us or I would have warned you."

Xander talked for a few more hours. He covered everything that had gone on in the months since Oz had left. After a while he almost wasn't aware of Oz passed out on his bed. He was just getting everything off his chest, more then just the last few months. He was slowly working his way back to when Jesse had died.

Finally, his voice getting hoarse, he stopped. "Wow, now I better hope you don't remember all that somehow," he said worriedly when he realized all the things he'd said. A look at the clock confirmed it was almost time to change the bandages. He carefully peeled the bandage off his chest and reapplied the antibiotic salve before re-bandaging it. He moved on to the two arm wounds and the one on his thigh before wrapping the blankets back around him.

Deciding he looked as comfortable as could be, Xander grabbed an extra blanket and headed to the couch with his alarm clock. He set it to go off quietly in six hours and fell asleep almost immediately.

 

He had changed the bandages when the alarm when off and sat with Oz for a few minutes before dragging himself back to bed. After the rush of rescuing him, he was wiped out and he was too worried about Oz to sleep soundly.

He'd only been asleep for a few hours when he heard someone knocking at his door. Grabbing the gun he'd picked up just a few weeks before, he went over to the door and asked who was there. When Willow answered he opened the door, gun in hand and scanned behind her before letting her in.

"Xander, what are you doing with a gun?" she asked as soon as she noticed it.

"I'm not a Slayer, not a witch, and there are scary army guys who may be after Oz," he answered. "I decided it was better to be safe." He flicked the safety on before setting the gun down on the shelf near the door and taking the bags from Willow. "You brought a lot of stuff."

"We'll you're the one taking care of him. Buffy and I thought the least we could do was get all the supplies you're going to need and some healthier food. How's he doing?" she asked.

"Okay, I think. I've been changing the bandages like Giles said and it doesn't look like he has an infection, at least that non-doctor guy here could see. He doesn't feel like he has a fever, but I don't have a thermometer. My supplies are more the recover from bad guy attacks not recover from the flu. Giles said he'd probably sleep until his injuries were mostly healed so I wasn't too worried yet."

"I'm still worried. Werewolves are supposed to heal really fast. If he's not better yet they must have done… well they had to have done some really bad stuff to him. Like stuff that's worse then just normal. Whatever normal is for the Initiative," Willow said. She started putting the groceries away quietly. "When he wakes up tell him I stopped by? I don't want to get too close to him in case he smells Tara on me and gets upset, but I don't want him to think I'm mad at him because he didn't really hurt her you know."

"So you and Tara? Gotta admit that was a surprise. I'd say you should have told me, but that would be kinda hypocritical of me," Xander said from across the room where he was organizing the first aid supplies.

"We'll I wanted to tell you, but I just didn't… wait just a second, mister," Willow said. She put down the box of cereal she had been holding and walked over to Xander with her hands on her hips. "Are you trying to tell me something?"

Xander blushed and focused on the supplies in front of him. He really didn't want to have this conversation with Willow right now, and he couldn't believe he had said that. He started to correct what he'd said, but realized he couldn't take it back without being really unfair to Willow. "Well, I figured that I could tell you now without you freaking out or telling me I was weird. You aren't going to freak out are you?" Xander asked, still not looking up.

"No, no freaking here. Surprise and all that, but no freaking. Is this a you like guys thing or a you like girls and guys thing and do you have a boyfriend? We could double date," Willow said. "We should have talked about this a long time ago because I feel a lot better now. It kinda feels more normal that that I know we're both gay."

"No, I don't have a boyfriend and I'm not sure I'd be up for double dates in public even if I did." Xander was trying not to react to be called gay. He knew he was gay, but hearing Willow say it was weird. "Other then fooling around a little with Larry, I haven't done anything. Probably since I seem to be attracted to by best friends' boyfriends," Xander said then blushed even harder when he realized just what he'd told Willow.

"Riley?" she squeaked. When he shook his head no she continued. "Parker? Angel? Oh goddess, you had a thing for Angel?"

"Don't tell Buffy," Xander said. He wanted to crawl in a corner somewhere. Willow might think being gay was okay, but not the whole attracted to a vampire thing. "I'm not sure I want to tell her I'm leaning toward the gay side of things, and I so don't want her to know I had the hots for Angel. Matter of fact, I don't plan on ever telling anyone about that part."

Willow suddenly figured out why Xander was still nervous on top of being embarassed. "Oz?" She asked.

"Yeah, I couldn't help it, but I never did anything. He doesn't even know and even if he did I think he's still mad that I kissed you which, considering, is wrong on even more levels now," Xander said. "You're not mad at me are you?"

"No, we both kept secrets, but, just for the record, I never had the hots for Cordy. I don't know if he likes guys, but if he does and you two hit it off I think that would be cool," Willow said. She crouched down next to Xander and gave him a big hug when he still looked ready to bolt out of the basement.

"Really? I mean that wouldn't weird you out to have me dating your ex-boyfriend. Not that he'd be interested in me anyway."

"It would be nice. Oz is still a really good friend, and if he had someone and a reason to stay in Sunnydale I wouldn't complain. Just tell him before he gets better. If he's not interested he'll probably leave anyway so you won't have to be embarrassed around him. Just don't take advantage of my ex-boyfriend while he's still hurt," Willow said, shaking her head and starting to smile. "So not the thing I thought I'd ever be saying to you."

They talked for a few more minutes before Willow had to leave for class. She wanted to stay, but, with Buffy taking care of Riley, she was taking notes for both of them. Xander saw her to the door and then locked it behind her after she left.

"Well, Oz," he said looking at the still sleeping werewolf. "I guess she'd be okay with us being a thing if you were interested in me. I think that makes it worse. Before I could tell myself that it didn't matter if you liked me or not because it would upset Willow." Without thinking what he was doing he reached down and ruffled Oz's hair before heading back to the couch to get a few more hours of sleep before he had to change the bandages again.

 

Xander had changed the bandages two more times before Oz started to stir on the bed. "Hey, Oz, you starting to wake up?" Xander asked as he turned off the TV and went to stand next to the bed.

"Bathroom?" Oz croaked.

"Yeah, Giles said I could move you as long as I was careful. The wounds are not really that deep and moving around might help," Xander said. "If you want to, but maybe it's better if I carry you in there just to be safe." He pulled the blankets off Oz and picked him up carefully. "I'll put you in the bathroom and get some juice and soup ready. Call me when you're done in there."

Oz just nodded slowly as he was carried to the bathroom. The combination of just having woken up and the pain from his injuries was making it all but impossible to focus enough to talk.

Xander was stirring the soup when he heard the bathroom door open and saw Oz leaning against the door sill. "I told you to call me," he said as he hurried over.

"I wanted to get around on my own," Oz answered. "But if you want to help me to the couch that would be good. These are healing slowly. That silver oxide compound they injected me with must not be out of my system yet."

"They injected you with silver? Are you going to be okay? Do you need a transfusion or something?" Xander asked as he maneuvered Oz to the couch.

"No it was a very diluted dose. They explained everything to each other while they were experimenting on me. They didn't realize I'd remember it all when I woke up," Oz said after he was settled on the couch. From the kitchen area he heard a crash as Xander dropped the bowl he'd been getting ready to fill with soup.

"So, um, do you usually remember stuff you hear while you're asleep? If that's a werewolf thing, Giles really should have told me," Xander said. He was bent over picking up the pieces to one of the two bowls he owned so he didn't see Oz grinning at him over the top of the couch.

"And with werewolf hearing I can even hear two people talking in the other room in my sleep," Oz added.

"Shit, are you mad at me.? If you don't want to stay here I can call Giles and swap you for Spike or something I guess," Xander said. He knew he was blushing yet again, but he forced himself to look over at Oz. The smile on Oz's face confused him and he pulled the other bowl out of the dish rack and poured some soup into it. Doing something normal like pouring soup was better then thinking. Maybe Oz would just let it drop if he didn't say anything else.

"Don't tell me you like Spike better then me? I know he's related to Angel and all, but they look nothing alike."

"You're teasing me?" Xander asked incredulously. "The first guy I ever had a thing for finds out about it, but doesn't freak out. No, he decides to tease me about it, and, just so you know, I do not have a thing for Spike." He was still more embarrassed then he'd ever been, but he could handle joking. Joking was normal and good if it meant Oz was not trying to crawl away from him.

"Xan, it's no big deal. Before I started dating Willow, Devon and I hooked up a few times when we were both bored. Maybe, if you still want me around, I'll stay here for a while after I heal up. I could even start patrolling with you again, Nighthawk, once those government assholes are taken care of," Oz said. He took the bowl of soup from Xander's hands and started eating before he burst into laughter at the look on Xander's face when he used his codename. "God I was starving. Some real food should help me heal faster. You're not surprised about me and Devon are you? I though everyone at school knew about it in a non-confirmed but people talked about it way."

Xander sat down and alternated between staring at Oz and looking at his mug of soup while he tried to figure out what was going on. "So, I've been all freaking about liking guys and it's really no big deal to you and Willow because neither of you are totally straight," he finally said. "Not like it's a bad thing, but I had imagined this so many times and there was a lot of yelling, cursing, and flashbacks to drunk parents. It's like a letdown. A very good letdown, if letdowns, can be good, but still kinda freaky."

"Don't think it would matter if Willow and I were straight. Neither of us would yell at you," Oz said. He brushed his hand over Xander's. "I was scared too when I told my family."

That would be nice if you stayed," Xander said, jumping on a non-family topic. "I'm paying for the basement so I can have a roommate if I want. If that's what you meant. Or did you mean here like in Sunnydale, because that would be cool too."

"I meant here, with you. Xan, I'm interested, but it might take me a week or two before I've settled all this stuff with Willow in my head, and we'd both have to tell the others before anything too involved got started."

"Wow, you're serious? Like seriously serious?" Xander lapsed into silence for a minute with a goofy grin on his face. "And I was going to tell them tomorrow night anyway. I mean the Xan not straight part. I wasn't planning on telling anyone about the Xan likes Oz part except maybe you, and no one else hears anything about the totally gone, former crush on Angel. Now that Willow knows it would be rude to keep all of it a secret from the rest of them. Maybe we can send Spike on patrol first though? I don't know if I'm ready for his teasing."

"He's a vampire. He's probably already figured it out from smell, at least the liking guys part. I've got a much better handle on the sense while I was gone and I can tell right now," Oz said as he slurped down the last of his soup. He held onto the bowl when Xander tried to take it.

"Let me get you some more soup," Xander said as he tugged at the bowl.

"Nope, I'm pretty sure this is your last bowl and I'm going to hold onto it while you freak out," Oz said.

"Freak out? Just because Spike can smell…. Oh Fuck! Angel could smell it too and he probably knew this whole time," Xander sat down heavily in the chair. "When Angelus made a few comments I thought he might know, but when I realized he did that to everyone I just figured it was the standard insane vampire thing to do."

A few seconds later he shook himself and got up. "See no huge freak out over that. I think I'm done with overreacting to surprises for the night," Xander said as he refilled the bowl.

Oz finished off another bowl of soup and two glasses of juice before slumping back on the couch. "Okay, I think I'm ready for bed, Xan. Can you change the bandages now?"

"Sure, Let me get you on the bed first so you don't move around after I get them back on," Xander said. He carefully picked Oz up and put him back on the bed before grabbing the supplies. "They are looking a lot better. I think they can go at least ten hours if you want to get some uninterrupted sleep."

"Cool, still tired," Oz said with a yawn.

"I'll be on the chair if you need anything and I'm setting the alarm for ten hours," Xander said as he got up.

"Xan," Oz said, grabbing his arm. "Get in bed. We're both dressed and I'm hurt. Nothing is going to happen and there is no way you can really sleep on that chair."

Xander looked torn, but in bed with Oz had way too much appeal over the chair that was so uncomfortable he'd secretly felt bad about putting Spike in. "As long as you don't mind that would be nice. Just let me bring the alarm back over here," he said.

Minutes later Xander and Oz were sound asleep with their shoulders just barely touching.

 

When Oz woke up before the alarm went off, he could tell that his wounds had healed over the night. He still felt tired and sick, but the sting of the cuts was gone. Satisfied that he was getting better, he looked over at Xander. He was sprawled over half the bed, but, other than the hand resting lightly on Oz's thigh, he was being careful to keep to himself even in sleep.

A smile played around Oz's lips as he thought about some of the things Xander had told him that first night when he thought Oz was asleep. There were plenty of things that didn't deserve a smile, but Oz wasn't focusing on those. He reached down and wrapped his hand around Xander's. Xander latched onto it and moved closer. By the time he was done moving he was curled up against Oz but still maintaining an inch of space between the two of them.

He still wasn't sure if he was ready to jump into a relationship so soon after finding out about Willow, but Xander made it tempting for some reason he couldn't identify. At the same time, he wasn't really given to thinking a decision over too long so it wasn't a surprise when he decided he'd stay and see where things went with Xander as long as he was willing to go slow.

Xander came out of sleep slowly and immediately felt someone holding his hand. He blinked his eyes open and saw Oz laying next to him with a smile on his face. "Morning," Xander said though a yawn. "You feeling okay? Need anything?"

"Naw, think I'm all healed. Just don't have any energy," Oz answered. "Slept too much though lately."

Xander stretched without moving his hand from Oz's and then looked at the clock. "Let me make sure you're okay and feed you. Then we can find something to do."

Oz nodded and let Xander pull his hand away to get up and grab the supplies. He wasn't surprised when the bandages came off and the wounds were completely healed. "Cool if I take a shower?" he asked. "Now that there are no open wounds I want to get clean."

"Yeah, I'll get you some clean sweats. Sorry I didn't try to wash you down when you were asleep, but…." Xander blushed and shrugged.

"I get it," Oz said as he pulled himself slowly out of bed with Xander's help. "I don't think I was up to a shower or a bath before anyways."

Xander heated up some oatmeal while Oz showered. It had felt good waking up with Oz this morning. Now if he could just keep the Initiative away from him and get through telling the rest of the Scoobies about what was going on, then things would be perfect. Well, perfect if Oz decided to stay.

After breakfast they settled in front of the TV and started working their way through some of Xander's sci-fi movies. The shower and eating breakfast had wiped Oz and he just wanted to rest so card games were out. Xander was just starting to think about lunch when he heard knocking at the door.

"I've got to get a peephole," he muttered as he grabbed his gun and went to the door to ask who it was. He opened the door and checked carefully behind them before letting them in. Both Buffy and Giles noticed the caution and the gun but neither of them said anything about it.

"Oz, you look much better," Giles said as he took in the lack of bandages. "I'm glad whatever they did wasn't permanent."

"He's still pretty weak, Giles. Those fuckers injected him with silver oxide," Xander said when Oz remained quite.

"It's alright. I think it's slowly leeching out," Oz said. "I healed up fine. It's just going to take me a while to get my energy back."

"We were thinking we could send you to stay with Angel," Buffy said. She had put away some more food and was standing next to Giles. "At least until we figure out what to do about the Initiative."

"No, Oz is staying with me. I'm not sending him to Deadboy until we have to or he's at least a little stronger," Xander said. He grabbed Oz's hand and smiled at the look Oz was giving him. "As long as that's okay with you."

Oz shrugged. "I'd rather stay and help take them down if I get my strength back, but if I'm still out of it and you think it's safer I'll go."

Buffy took in the clasped hands and the way the two of them were looking at each other. "Giles, is there something you want to tell me?"

"What?" Giles asked as he took in the clasped hands himself.

"Does killing vampires and demons have a 'make you gay' effect?" she asked with a small grin. "And have you already been affected?"

"Really, Buffy, my sexual preference is none of your business," Giles said as he started to polish his glasses. "It is a fact though that our line of work draws outsiders and a majority of Watchers and the like are gay or bi-sexual. Slayers on the other hand are chosen and are far less likely to be gay."

Buffy started snickering wildly. "So when the Watchers were looking over the little files on all of us they were assuming Cordy was gay? Can I please tell her that?"

Xander listened to the conversation between Buffy and Giles in awe. He hadn't even said anything about him and Oz out loud and the two of them had already moved past it into teasing. "Well that was surprisingly easy," he whispered to Oz. They both chuckled as Buffy got Giles more and more flustered.

"Willow does know about this right guys?" Buffy asked, finally turning her attention back to them. "Not that she should have much to say about it, but she should know what's going on."

"Yeah, she kinda figured it out and told me to tell Oz when he woke up." Xander blushed when he thought about what else she knew and hoped she remembered not to tell Buffy. "She doesn't know that he was kinda cool to there maybe being something between us at some point in the maybe distant future though so I'll have to tell her sometime soon."

"I think Oz will be safe enough here for the moment," Giles said. "We will take the precaution of letting Angel know he might be going to LA just in case it's needed. If we end up trying to take the Initiative down we'll need your help Xander, and if Oz is still weakened it would be best not to leave him unprotected."

"Make sure you keep me updated. I'm going to take a few nights off patrolling and meetings to make sure Oz is okay," Xander said. "You all are welcome to stop by whenever you want too during the day. Especially if you keep bringing food." He gave Oz's hand a squeeze after everyone said goodbye and walked them too the door.

"So now everyone knows," Xander said as he walked back toward the couch. "I'm glad they all took it so well, but I'm almost disappointed I didn't tell them earlier if they were going to take it this well."

"It probably helped that Willow went first," Oz said as he curled up against Xander and started to drift back to sleep. "Plus, Buffy's the only straight one, and if she gave you any trouble you'd just have to say Angel… without blushing."

"So over Angel. He's attractive, but didn't really like him. You I like all around," Xander said. "Can you just see me with someone who broods as much as he does? Wait, wait, Buffy's the only one does that mean Giles… no on second thought I don't want to know. I mean if he is that's cool, but if he is he should tell me himself if he wants me to know."

 

Oz napped on and off most the day which didn't bother Xander much at all because Oz seemed to like curling up against him while he napped. It was getting later in the afternoon and Oz was asleep again. The Babylon 5 tape had just ended and Xander was taking a minutes to just look at him. He couldn't believe how much things had changed in just a few days. He shifted a little when Oz moved against him. It was going to be hard to wait for Oz to be ready now that he knew Oz actually liked him, but he figured he'd waited so long already another week or two wouldn't kill him.

When Oz finally woke up again a while later, the first thing he saw was Xander watching him with an intent look. He gave Xander a shy smile and rubbed his head against his chest. "Maybe I won't sleep all day tomorrow," he said. He knew they still needed to talk about what was going on between them. He was still really tired though, and wanted to be fully awake when they talked.

"Hey, it's alright. I kinda like having an excuse to watch these tapes and just lay around doing nothing," Xander said. "You ready to eat again?"

"Yeah, I'm going to take a piss then I'll eat at least one meal at the table," Oz said with a smile. "Not that being waited on hand and foot is bad…."

Xander ran his fingers through Oz's hair then helped him off the couch before heading into the kitchen area. He was still sticking to easy to digest food so he started heating up some beef stew and toasting some bread.

When Oz got out of the bathroom he sat down at the table and watched Xander as he prepared the food. He was still surprised at how willing Xander was to do stuff like this when Oz hadn't even said for sure that anything was going to happen between them. He caught Xander's eye as he put a bowl and a large mug on the table. "I'm going to have to replace that bowl," he said with a grin.

"It was worth it to realize I'd found a way out of telling you how I felt while you were awake," Xander said with a chuckle as he poured the soup and put the toast on a couple of napkins.

"I don't think I'm going to need as long as I thought to get past Willow and the Initiative," Oz said offhandedly halfway through the meal. "I was thinking we could talk about it tomorrow after I get a good night's sleep."

"Whenever is cool, man. I told you there was no hurry," Xander fought to keep his voice even while his heart rate spiked at hearing 'talk about it'. Pushing his nervousness aside, he continued. "Get that silver shit out of your system and take the time you need then we can figure out where we are."

After dinner they watched another hour of TV before getting ready for bed. Xander was surprised to see Oz stripping down to his boxers, but followed suit. He definitely wasn't going to complain about sleeping with fewer clothes if Oz was suggesting it. Plus he figured it was a good sign for the talk as long as…. "Erm, it is okay if I sleep in here again right?"

"Yeah," Oz said before leaning up for a very brief, closed-mouthed kiss.

 

Xander was tense from the moment he'd woken up the next morning. When he'd gone to sleep the night before, he'd started to feel more confident that whatever talk Oz wanted to have would go well. Now that it was morning, he wasn't nearly as sure what was going on. Everything had moved so fast since they'd rescued him. Once again, they hadn't ended up too close to each other so Xander took the what time he could to just watch Oz sleep.

"Morning," he said quietly when Oz finally opened his eyes. "You feeling better?"

"Kinda. I'm better, but not good yet," Oz answered. He could feel the tension rolling off Xander even though he looked relaxed. It took him a moment to figure out what was up, but he remembered mentioning 'talking' the night before. After Xander's history with relationships it wasn't surprising that having a talk about where they were going would make him nervous.

"That's good. I mean it's good that you're feeling better not that your not feeling good yet," Xander babbled. "But if you're feeling better then you should be feeling good soon, right? So I guess it is good that you're feeling better."

When it didn't look like Xander was going to stop talking anytime soon, Oz silenced him with a quick kiss. It wasn't much more then brushing their lips together, but it was enough to leave Xander silent with a goofy grin on his face. "I'll try cooking, or heating and nuking," Oz said, sliding out of bed. "You shouldn't be stuck with all the cooking."

"I don't mind. It's kinda nice to take care of someone," Xander said as he scrambled out of bed after Oz.

"You go take a shower, and I'll cook. I need to move around and do something. Anyway, I didn't really give you a chance to shower last night," Oz said.

"Oh," Xander said, looking embarrassed all the sudden. "I forgot you can smell better then me." He stumbled toward the bathroom with a blush covering his face. He hoped he didn't smell too bad. "I guess I'll just have to take a lot of showers. I mean, if you're staying. Not that I don't take showers anyway, but… I'll be out in a few minutes." Xander darted into the bathroom and closed the door behind him before he could make any bigger of a fool out of himself.

Oz smiled at the closed door as he watched Xander resort to leaving the room to stop babbling. His smile disappeared when he realized just why Xander was so embarrassed. He couldn't leave Xander to beat himself up when that wasn't what he'd intended at all. Still moving slowly, he made his way to the bathroom door. "Xan, I like how you smell," he said loudly enough to be heard over the sound of the running water in the sink. "I just though you might want a shower, but if you don't then don't take one because of me."

After Xander had called back that he did want to take a shower, Oz went to investigate the kitchen. There was not much available to work with. It looked like Xander was not a big shopper and Scoobies had brought over mostly canned and boxed foods. He finally gathered up the eggs they had brought over and some lunch meat he could dice up to mix with scrambled eggs in the microwave.

"Wow," Xander said when came out of the bathroom in a pair of boxers and a t-shirt. "I didn't know you could cook eggs in a microwave."

"One of many skills I learned living in hotels while traveling. I don't have your tolerance for pre-packaged foods," Oz said with a grin. "We may have to get a bigger place though if I stay. One with a real kitchen."

"We could definitely do that," Xander agreed quickly. "I've wanted to get out of here, but they charge so much it's hard to save up enough to move out. Does this mean you want to stay in Sunnydale, with me?"

"Yeah, I do." Oz started piling the eggs and toast on two plates. "Get us something healthy to drink and we can talk while we eat."

Xander grabbed two glasses and a carton of orange juice then was seated before Oz was done dishing up the food. "Can we talk before we eat? At least talk about the important stuff because I think I'm too nervous to eat right now," Xander said. "It's just I've never heard anything good after the other person wants to talk and I really don't want to hear anything bad. Maybe it's different with guys, though, and talking isn't a scary thing."

"Naw, it's not scary. I promise," Oz said as he sat down. "I want to stay and see if there's an us, but I was serious when I said I want to go slow. I just, it's gotta be real. Since I got the wolf I don't want to just mess around. I need a mate and we've both got to be sure we want that so what happened with Willow doesn't happen again."

"I can handle slow, Oz. I wasn't just looking for a quick thing either," Xander swallowed hesitantly. "By mated you mean like 'until death do us part' mated right? That's not a bad thing just more then I was thinking. I was kinda getting used to the idea of having a boyfriend for the first time, but mated would be cool too."

"That's why we go slow. No harm, no foul if it gets to be too much for either of us, but I do hope it works out." Oz lost his self-confidence for the first time since he'd woken up and looked down at his plate. "Even though we're going slow, can we sleep in the same bed and stuff? I really like just having someone close and it keeps the wolf calm."

"Sure, it's not like I'm going to say no to that. It does feel great to have someone near like that. We'll just go at your pace. I've had a lot longer to think about this than you, so just assume I'm cool with whatever unless I say otherwise," Xander said.

"Cool, maybe we can just talk today, or I can talk. You pretty much did all your talking while I was asleep. Do you still have the chess set Willow gave you?" Oz asked as he started to eat.

"Yeah, but I never really learned to play so you'll have to teach me, and we should call Willow and tell her about us. I know she said she wouldn't mind, but she probably thought you'd never be interested in me," Xander said. "Maybe we can invite them all over to hold the Scoobie meeting here tonight. I bet we can get them to bring pizza if we ask nicely and you say you want it."

"Make sure Tara's invited, too. I'd like to apologize to her. She hadn't done anything wrong and I tried to attack her."

 

"Okay, they'd better get here soon, or I'm going to raid the fridge again," Xander finally said after the sun had gone down. It had been a great day listening to Oz and finding out the kind of details he'd never gotten from just a friend. He was pretty sure he'd heard Oz say more in one day then he'd heard from him the entire time he'd known him.

"Relax, Xan. You know Willow's going to be fine about this. If anyone should be worried it's me. I'm the one that attacked her girlfriend," Oz said as he snagged Xander's arm and pulled him down on the couch.

"I know, I know. I just keep thinking that something bad is going to happen. Force of habit I guess." Xander leapt up when he heard knocking. "After this we just have to tell your parents and send mine a letter after we move out."

After checking that it was the Scoobies, he opened the door the rest of the way and hurried back to the couch where he stood awkwardly next to it. "Hi guys. Welcome to the Basement of Doom… which, considering we're on the Hellmouth is probably not the name I should use." His babble was cut off when Oz grabbed the back of his pants. He looked at Oz then blushed. "I mean come in, find a seat, and you brought pizza right?" he said as he sat down next to Oz.

"Wow, I'm impressed," Willow said. She put the four boxes of pizza on the coffee table. "Oz can already cut him off in mid-babble. Now if Xander can get Oz to talk more we'll know they're meant for each other."

"Told you she wouldn't care," Oz said. "Tara, I want to apologize about before. It won't happen again I was just…."

"I know. Willow explained," Tara said quietly from where she was hovering behind everyone else.

"It was just because I didn't tell you," Willow said. "It's all my fault and I should have realized that if you thought we were still together and found out about Tara the wolf would get upset. I was just so glad to have you back in town I didn't want to mess it up. We all missed you, Oz."

"Well, I'm gonna be staying here now. Xan and I are going to get an apartment," Oz said.

"Yeah, G-Man, we're going to get one in your complex so we can come visit you all the time," Xander said. Everyone started laughing at the look on Giles' face at that.

With all that out of the way, the meeting settled down to eating and discussing how to take down the Initiative. Spike had been sent to talk to Riley in case they could come up with something by comparing their viewpoints of the base. After several hours they decided to split up to research more on their own and meet up again the next night at Xander's.

As they were getting ready to leave, Xander pulled Giles and Buffy aside. "You know, it might be a good idea if Spike stayed with Riley. Those soldiers use infrared scanners to pickup vampires by their body heat but it won't work well among all that rubble. He'll be easy to find in one of our houses though."

"I know neither of them get along well, and it's not the best solution," Giles said when Buffy started to protest. "But Xander's right. It might be safest for everyone if Spike was well hidden as he's the easiest to track. He can also protect Riley when none of us are around. We'll just make sure that he knows what will happen if Riley comes to any harm in his care."

"Shower then bed?" Oz asked after they were all gone. "Having everyone here wore me out and I can tell I didn't nap at all today."

"Go ahead and take a shower while I clean up," Xander said. He figured if he had a live-in, kinda-boyfriend now he'd have to learn to be a little neater. Plus, if Oz showered first he'd get to bed faster. As he watched Oz flash him a sleepy smile and shuffle off to the bathroom, he marveled again at how smoothly things had gone.

Once Oz was done, Xander took his place in the shower. After quickly cleaning off, he headed to bed. Oz was already sprawled under the covers half asleep. Xander slid onto the bed trying not to disturb Oz, but was immediately latched onto.

"Night, Xan. Glad it went well," Oz mumbled as he brushed another closed-mouth kiss across Xander's lips and curled up against him.

"Night," Xander answered as he started to drift of to sleep as well.

 

The next day Xander was supposed to go to back to work, but he didn't want to leave Oz alone in the basement. Unfortunately, he didn't know where he could find that would be safe. Giles' apartment was definitely out and he was not leaving Oz with Spike and Riley.

"Oz," he said quietly, shaking him softly. He watched as Oz slowly woke up, blinking a few times as he tried to focus on Xander's face.

"Hey, Xan, what's up?"

"I gotta go to work today, and I was thinking I could take you with me. We're doing interior finish work today and you can just hang out. The foreman will bitch a little but he won't really mind." Xander started talking faster when it looked like Oz was getting ready to protest. "I can't take you to Giles and I can't leave you here by yourself. We just have to do this for a day or two until you're back to full strength, okay?"

"I don't really have a choice, do I?" Oz asked with a small smile. "Willow warned me how overprotective you could be." With a quick kiss, he was up and out of bed. "So how long before we have to leave?"

"Thirty minutes to get ready. We'll pick up breakfast on the way." Xander started rummaging through one of the bags the girls had brought over and handed Oz some of the clothes out of it. "You can use the bathroom first."

They made it out of the basement in plenty of time and were on the way to McDonald's, with Oz slumped down in his seat, when Xander cleared his throat nervously. "Um, are you going to mind if I introduce you as my boyfriend at work?"

"I didn't care if our friends knew, Xan. I'm not going to mind if some people I've never met before know," Oz said. "I like that you want them to know. I might actually try to get a job there when all this settles down."

 

The day went fairly smoothly. Xander was the second guy on the crew to come out so, while it got a few comments, it wasn't that big a deal. They bought his story about Oz needing someplace to go while the basement was fumigated. Oz had even been allowed to work with Xander, getting him tools and wood which gave them a chance to talk.

"Definitely going to have to get you a job with me," Xander said as the trudged out to his car at the end of the day. "I mean, if you liked that, but it was fun to work with you."

"Yeah, maybe not full time. I'd like to find a local band to play with again," Oz said. He pulled Xander's right hand into his lap once they were in the car and started absently playing with it as they drove home. "You work with a cool group of guys. I'm glad none of this caused any problems there."

"Naw, I mean, they really don't care what I do in my off time as long as the work gets done. Plus, Sunnydale is really pretty open about sex, probably a side effect of living on the Hellmouth," Xander said with a grin. "I guess that would be the one good thing about living here."

The sun was just setting as they got back to the basement in time to see someone open the trunk of a large convertible. A blanket clad figure jumped out and ran to the protection of the stairwell leading to into the basement.

"Um, I'm thinking we have a vampire visitor," Xander said, trying to get a better look at the car. "But that's not Spike's car. I don't recognize it."

Oz sniffed the air coming through the open window a few times. "Angel and some human I think," he announced after a few seconds.

"Great, well he was in the sunlight so he's not a vamp. I guess that means Angel is still Angel so we should go see what they want." Xander pulled his car into the driveway and waved back to the frantically waving man.

"Get down here and open the door," he yelled. "It's still too light out here."

Xander pulled two stakes out from under his seat and passed one to Oz. "Just in case," he said before hurrying down to let Angel in. He got the door open and went inside, but it was Oz to actually invited Angel through the door.

"Angel, what are you doing here, and who's that?" Xander asked once the blanket had been tossed aside.

"This is Doyle, he's my partner and we need to get both of you out of here. Now," Angel answered. He looked over at Doyle, "How much time do we have left?"

Doyle shot Angel and exasperated look and moved up to shake hands with Xander and Oz. "I'm Doyle. Angel's connection to the Powers That Be. I had a vision about you two being attacked here tonight by some military guys and we need to get you someplace safe." His lips twisted into an amused grin. "Although when they broke in you two were wearing a lot less in the way of clothes. So unless you were planning on fucking right now, I think we have some time."

"Fucking? No fucking, we're not that far along yet," Xander babbled. "Wait, you've seen us naked? That's so not fair. Not that I want to see you naked or anything to make up for it. I'll stick to just seeing my boyfriend naked." Suddenly everything Doyle had said sunk in. "Oh, shit, Oz, they know you're here. We have to get you out of here."

"Hey, calm down, Xan. We got enough warning to get cleaned up quick and grab a few things," Oz said. He pulled Xander into a hug. "You two have somewhere for us to go?"

"Yes, but be quick," Angel said. "After they get done here they go after Spike. We have to get to him next. Then I'm taking you all back to L.A. where it will be safe."

"Wait a minute," Xander yelled from the bathroom where he was quickly washing his face and hands. "You can't leave Buffy here alone to face the Initiative. If you take me, Oz, Spike, and Riley, that leaves her with almost no back up."

"He's right," Oz said as he shoved some clothes and other things they needed in a duffle bag. He also grabbed Xander's gun and handed it to him as he came out of the bathroom.

"Let's go. I want Oz someplace safe for now. After we get out of the area we can decide what to do," Xander said with a quick look around the apartment. He checked the safety on the gun and slipped it into the back of his pants. "We run into soldiers coming for Oz and I don't care if they're human, Angel. You gonna have a problem with that?"

"No, if they mean him or Spike harm, I'll do what's needed," Angel said after a pause. He seemed to be off balance around a Xander that was not sniping at him or indecisive. "We can discuss what to do after we get Spike and Riley, if that's the other man Doyle saw in his vision."

They hurried out to the car with both Angel and Oz sniffing the air as they went. They decided to take Angel's car as it was less likely to be recognized. After telling Angel where Spike was, Xander pulled Oz up against him in the back seat. "You feeling okay?" he whispered. "It was a long day and that stuff's still not out of your system."

"What's wrong with him?" Angel asked before Oz could answer.

"They injected him with silver oxide. It's not totally out of his system yet."

"Xander might be right about us staying. If they do things like that to us with no provocation they need to be stopped," Doyle said with a shudder. "Humans that prey on innocent demons are no better then demons that prey on innocent humans."

"I'm fine. Just a little tired. What kind of demon are you?" Oz asked Doyle, switching the topic. "You smell mostly human."

"Brachen, well, half Brachen." Doyle shook his head and switched to his demon face. "I'm usually in my human form though." He stopped talking and switched back into his human guise as they pulled up to the school. They had all started to get out of the car when he moaned and doubled over in pain.

Angel rushed around the car to hold him up. "Vision," he said by way of explanation, holding Doyle while he rode the vision out.

"They're coming here now," Doyle said as soon as the pain started receding. "I saw some guy leaving the house across the street from Xander's place and meeting up with a squad on the way there. We don't have much time.

"Doyle, Oz, stay in the car. If you see them, get the hell out of here," Angel growled. "Xander, take me to Spike now."

Xander gave Oz a quick kiss and spun around. He hurried into the ruins of the school, knowing that Angel would be right behind him. "Maybe getting out of town for a day or two, not far in case Buffy needs us, is a good idea," he said as they got close to Spike and Riley's hideout.

"Bloody hell, what are you doing here, Angel?" they heard before they could even see the hideout.

"Grab what you can," Angel bellowed back. "The soldiers are on their way now and I need to get the two of you out of here."

Spike was grabbing his cooler of blood and Riley was shoving some clothes in a duffle bag as they came into view. Spike opened his mouth then snapped it shut after getting a look at Angel's expression of barely contained violence and worry.

As soon they had both stood up, Xander turned around and headed back to the car at a trot. "I'm not leaving Oz alone any longer than I have to. Let's get the fuck out of here," he said. With his back to them, he didn't notice Riley's raised eyebrows when he caught sight of the gun Xander was carrying.

When they got back to the car Oz was standing by an open door yelling at them to hurry up. Being the first one there, Xander pulled him into the car and onto his lap in the corner. Doyle barely waited for everyone to get in the car before peeling out of the parking lot.

"Oz said he could smell them just before you got back," Doyle said to Angel. "They know too much. I don't know that L.A. is going to be any safer and they can travel faster then us if they really want to. Oz called someone named Willow. The rest of them should be leaving town, but we didn't know where to tell them to go."

"My parents have a cabin about an hour from here," Oz said from the backseat. "They should be heading there. I didn't say exactly where we were going in case they're listening, but Willow should know."

Xander waited impatiently for Oz and Angel to finish talking. As soon as there was a break in the conversation and Doyle had the address, he pulled Oz more firmly against him. "They're not getting you again," he whispered.

"I know, but I can take care of myself too," Oz said quietly. "I appreciate it, but I'm not totally helpless."

"I know, just when we rescued you… I guess I know that really you're the one more likely to protect me once you're all better, but right now I just want to keep you safe."

"You do keep me safe," Oz said as he shifted on Xander's lap.

 

Xander listened to the arguments in the next room while Oz slept spread out over his chest. Angel and Buffy had started arguing about what to do as soon as she had shown up. She wanted to send everyone away while she handled things and Angel wanted to get rid of the Initiative right away.

Xander hadn't won many friends when he'd flat out told Buffy that if Angel wanted to take the bastards down he'd go with him. Unsurprisingly, Spike and Doyle had agreed, but it was Riley agreeing with Angel that had really thrown Buffy for a loop.

He shot an evil glare at the door when the yelling got loud enough that Oz started to move around. "It's okay, Oz. They're just arguing again. There's nothing to worry about."

Oz smiled up at Xander then cocked his head to the side listening for a minute. "Buffy knows she's lost. She's just not giving in yet," he said. He wiggled up Xander slightly and leaned down for a long kiss. While there, he flicked his tongue out and over Xander's lips. When Xander responded and the kiss deepened, Oz started growling low in his chest and straddled Xander, pinning his hands to the bed.

"Fuck," Oz hissed as he finally pulled back. "I think the silver's all gone. I'd gotten used to having the wolf held in check by it." His eyes were still yellow and he hadn't released Xander's hands.

Xander just stared up at Oz for a minute. The shock at Oz's sudden assertiveness warring for dominance with the lust his actions had created. "I wasn't really minding, even if it was a little sudden," Xander murmured as he tried to arch up for another kiss. He gave a frustrated growl and fell back on the bed when Oz avoided him. "What's going on?"

"I gotta get Angel," Oz said as he let Xander go. He caught the hurt look that flashed over Xander's face. "I have to make sure I can control the wolf, and I can let it out around Angel without worrying about hurting him. You could get really hurt if I lost control though.." Oz's voice cracked as he spoke. He was staring at Xander, hoping he would understand how important keeping control was.

"You want Angel? Like right now you want to go get Angel?" Xander asked. He knew Oz was just trying to protect him, but he didn't want to stop what they had started now that Oz was feeling better.

"If I stay with you I won't have any self-control left," Oz said with a small smile as he got off the bed. "Just let him watch me while I change. If I can maintain control it'll be fine. You can stay in bed and I'll hopefully be right back."

Xander reached out and grabbed Oz's arm. "Come back to bed. We'll just keep going slow, but I want to do this together. I trust you, and if something happens… well, being a werewolf isn't what I want to do right now, but I knew it might happen."

"But I don't know if I can control it," Oz protested even as he let Xander pull him back into bed. "All this happened because I lost control with Tara."

"Not the same thing," Xander answered. He had pulled Oz onto his chest and was running his hands through Oz's hair. "She was a threat. I did read some of Giles' books on werewolves, and mystical pack animals after I was Hyena Boy. I know what happened with Tara was not your fault. Willow should have told you."

"Not her fault either." Oz stopped talking to give Xander a long but gentle kiss. "Thanks, no one's really trusted me like that since I left last time. Slow is good, but not too slow," he said. One hand was tracing lines on the part of Xander's chest he was not laying on top of and the other was cupping the back of Xander's head.

"Fast slow is good," Xander said before pulling Oz in for another kiss.

Oz felt torn as the kiss deepened. Xander was squirming underneath him, in a good way, and the feel of Xander’s tongue had him more turned on then he could ever remember. He couldn’t just lose himself in it. He kept having to focus on controlling the wolf. Finally, they both needed to break for air and he slumped on Xander’s chest. “Can’t do much more or I know I’ll lose it,” he mumbled. “I’m sorry you gotta put up with this.”

“Don’t care. Happy now,” Xander answered as he pulled Oz back into a kiss. He was kind of surprised to realize he wasn’t worried about getting turned into a werewolf at some point. When he’d said he didn’t care it had been in the heat of the moment, but, laying there with Oz on top of him, he still didn’t really care.

Oz didn’t answer as he twisted around so they were face to face on their sides and he could bury his face in the crook of Xander’s neck. They were both tired from the day of work and the excitement of avoiding the Initiative and started to slip into sleep even as there hands roamed slowly over each other.

 

When Xander and Oz walked out of the bedroom the next morning, they could feel the tension. Waking up had been nice and Xander enjoyed having graduated from chaste kisses. Leaving the bedroom had definitely dampened the mood though. Angel, Spike, and Doyle were nowhere to be seen, but Buffy was sitting in one of the chairs glaring at Riley. Every now and then she'd glare over at Willow, Tara, and Giles where they were researching.

"So, wanna show me where you keep the food stocked?" Xander asked Oz as he pulled him toward the kitchen. "If I find foodage do any of you want anything?" He had raised his voice to include the others. When everyone said yes he groaned and kept walking.

"Buffy doesn't seem to happy," Oz commented after the door was closed behind them.

"She doesn't like to lose, and she's really pissed Riley didn't agree with her," Xander said with a shrug as he started to open cupboards. "This is about more then just her now. They experimented on you just because you're different, and were going to kill Riley or something because he helped you. They gotta be stopped before they do something else even if she doesn’t like it."

“You grew up while I was gone,” Oz said. His voice was muffled as he stepped behind Xander and rested his head on Xander’s back. “Not afraid to stand up to them anymore.”

“Wasn’t afraid before,” Xander protested. “I just wasn’t sure I knew what was going on. Now I know how important it is to protect my friends.” He ignored Oz tensing against him and kept talking. “I don’t want to upset Willow or Buffy, but they just don’t see how dangerous these people are. Just because they’re human doesn’t mean they’re any better then the demons we kill.”

“I’m not mad at you, Xan, not really. It’s just that there has to be some way to fix this without killing them all. I’m the Slayer. I don’t kill humans like Faith did,” Buffy said quietly from the doorway.

“I know they’re human, but look what they did to Oz. Only person he ever hurt was that bitch who tried to kill Willow. How many other innocents do they have in there? I don’t want to hurt any of Riley’s friends, but I can’t let them keep doing what they’re doing,” Xander said without turning around. He was embarrassed she’d walked in during the middle of his speech to Oz and was fighting a blush, but wanted her to understand.

“I still don’t like it, but I’m not going to let you all do this alone,” Buffy said after a pause. “I want Riley and Oz to be safe. I was just hoping they’d come to their senses or we’d find a way to get them to just leave. Riley said it’s not going to happen though. He’ll try to save any of the guys who are just following orders.”

“Thanks,” Xander said. “I wouldn’t want to do this without you.”

Buffy silently backed out of the room. Xander had twisted around so he was facing Oz, and, from the way they were looking at each other, they wanted to be alone. When she got back into the main room she noticed everyone was back. “Okay, Xander and Oz are working on some food for us so let’s start working on a plan. We should do this tonight if we can, before they hunt us down and we have to run again.”

Back in the kitchen, Oz finally pulled out of the kiss he and Xander were sharing. “Don’t wanna stop, but we told them we were making food,” he said with an apologetic grin.

“I know, I know,” Xander groused as he went back to getting some food together. “Our next weekend away is not going to include all of our friends.”

 

By that evening they had a plan all worked out and everyone had gotten at least some sleep. Once they were all agreed on taking the Initiative down, things had gone fairly smoothly. Having two vampires who had combined centuries of experience helped when making plans for assaulting a secret military base loaded with troops and demons.

The sun was getting ready to set and all the couples were in a different corner of the room talking, except for Xander and Oz who were softly kissing.

“Why is everyone else just talking?” Xander asked in a whisper when they stopped kissing for a second.

“Angel doesn’t want to upset Buffy. She doesn’t want to upset Angel, and Tara’s too shy to kiss in public,” Oz whispered back before pulling Xander into another kiss.

They both missed Spike’s softly snorted, “And I’m not kissing the bleeding watcher.”

Xander got lost in the kiss until he heard Giles clearing his throat. When he looked up, everyone was near the door and staring at the two of them. He flushed bright red, but managed a grin as he and Oz walked over to join everyone else.

“No more smoochies until we’re done, mister,” Willow said with a shake of her finger. “I don’t need to put the two of you in different cars do I?”

“No, Willow, my bestest friend. We’ll be good,” Xander said.

 

Getting into the base went easier then they’d expected. Riley had known everything about the place and he knew all the weak spots in their defenses. They had worried security would have been beefed up, but it seemed like the Initiative was too confident to even worry about an attack on their base.

While the rest of them waited out of sight of the security cameras, Angel and Spike headed off to the low security wing. When they had been going over the layout and what demons they might face, Giles had realized just how many ‘safe’ demons had been captured. Angel and Spike were going to go release any demons that might help them. Buffy hadn’t been to happy about being left with the rest of them while Spike and Angel went on ahead, but she showed up on video cameras and they didn’t. Plus, a slayer was not going to put the demons at ease.

Almost ten minutes went by before the first alarms went off. Xander’s hand tightened around Oz’s then released it. “They were gone long enough. They probably got most of the demons released before someone caught on," Xander said.

In the back of the room Willow, Giles, and Tara started chanting. It had only taken a few minutes to set the spell up and they had just been waiting for the alarm to start. Seconds later a pale shockwave rushed out from the three of them. Xander pulled his gun out and fired it at the far wall. There was a small clank as the hammer fell, but that was it.

“Damn, it worked,” Riley said. He was still coming to grips with the fact that some chanting had turned all gunpowder in the vicinity to dust. It gave them a definite advantage though. While all the soldiers were trained in hand-to-hand, they would try to use their guns first, and when that didn’t work they’d be off balance.

Then they were out in the thick of things and none of them had time to worry about anything but protecting themselves and their partners.

Xander and Oz took advantage of the soldiers’ shock at them even being there. The added confusion from the worthless guns gave them even more of an edge. For the first few minutes they were doing well, taking the soldiers out without doing any lasting damage, but as the soldiers started to regroup it got tougher. He wasn’t exactly sure how it happened, but he suddenly felt a burning pain in his stomach. When he looked down there was a knife and a lot of blood there.

He was vaguely aware he was screaming and tried to stop. No matter how much it hurt, screaming was not something he did. He slumped down, trying to focus, as he watched a dog rip the man who had stabbed him to shreds. “Oz, there’s a dog here,” he managed to say before he realized Oz was the dog. He tried to reach up to pet Oz, but succumbed to unconsciousness before he could get his hand to move.

Oz had lost control when he’d heard Xander’s scream. One brief glance had told him how much blood there was. He didn’t even try to fight the wolf. Some part of him had been hoping he’d remain in control of the beast after the change but all that remained was a need to protect Xander. He could smell Xander’s blood on the hand of the soldier that had stabbed him.

The wolf could sense the others backing off as he killed the one who had hurt his pack. With the immediate threat taken care of, he turned to Xander and started licking the wound while making a whining sound. When the bleeding stopped he curled around Xander, watching the battlefield for any sign of a threat coming their way.

When the noise of battle finally stopped, Oz watched as the ones who had helped keep the men away from them started to walk their way, arms out and talking softly. He growled lightly but didn’t move.

“Can he hear us?” Willow asked Giles. They battle was over and all of them looked wiped out. Riley, Doyle, and some soldiers who seemed to be on their side were cleaning up the mess and doing what they could for everyone who had been injured. Spike and Angel were taking care of the demons they weren’t releasing, and the rest of them were trying to figure out what to do with Oz and Xander.

“Not really. He might be able to understand your tone of voice, but he’s not really human right now. I doubt he can understand words,” Giles said.

“It’s not a full moon. I think we can force the wolf back,” Tara said quietly. “Just a little spell, but if it doesn’t work he’ll be really mad.”

Buffy moved in front of Tara and Willow in case anything went wrong with the spell. She watched Oz tense and start growling more but he didn’t move as the chanting went on behind her.

For Oz, the transition back to human was wrenching, not at all like the normal slide out of the wolf. He came back to himself still curled around Xander, glaring at the others. As he started moving to check on Xander he caught sight of the shredded corpse and winced. “Xander, Xander, can you hear me?” he asked.

“He looks like he’ll be fine,” Giles said as he handed Oz his jacket and knelt down to examine Xander. “You sealed the wound when you licked him so now he’s just battling the blood loss and shock.” Giles held onto Xander and kept checking for other wounds while Oz slipped the jacket on.

“The others are just doing the clean up now. You guys get Xander out of here and I’ll go check on Riley,” Buffy said once she was sure Xander was going to be okay.

 

The trip back to Oz’s cabin was made in silence. All three of the spell casters were exhausted and Oz was worrying about Xander and the mangled body he knew he’d caused. Barely a day after he’d gotten back to full strength and he’d lost control and killed someone. It wouldn't have bothered him if he'd been in control. He suspected a few of the guys he'd fought as a human might not survive, but that was different than mindlessly tearing a man to shreds.

After they had gotten back and Xander was settled in bed, he heard Willow quietly ask Giles if Xander was a werewolf now. “No he’s not,” Oz answered for Giles. “I helped him heal but it takes an actual bite to turn someone. He’s safe and he’s going to stay that way.”

“You most likely saved his life,” Giles said. It was obvious to him that Oz was upset with what had happened, but he didn’t want the boy doing anything rash.

“What if I had bit him, or turned on one of you? He’s not safe around me. You’re not safe around me.” Even while he was talking, Oz moved to sit on the bed next to Xander.

“Oz, if you even try to run off while Xander’s unconscious, Tara and I will do some really nasty spell on you,” Willow said with a glare. She reached over to run a hand over Xander’s arm. Giles had already used a simple diagnostic spell to make sure he was just sleeping off the blood loss. “Just call if you need anything."

Everyone else was heading out of the room, but Willow paused at the door. "I'm serious, Oz. Speaking from experience, the running away thing hurts the person left behind. Xander's going through a lot more then I was and there's nothing you could do that would hurt him worse then you leaving," Willow said softly before closing the door.

Oz nodded at her, not quite an agreement but at least an acknowledgement. Once the door was closed he turned back to stare at Xander. He was struck by their reversal of positions from just a week ago.

Oz had been sitting there for almost an hour, just running his hands through Xander's hair before realizing Willow had been right about everything. There, sitting on the little nightstand, was Xander's gun. He knew Xander had been willing to use that to kill someone to protect him. He was not just going to use it if Oz had gotten hurt. He would have used it to keep a threat away. Oz felt his lips quirk into a small grin as he realized he and Xander weren't really that different. Both were willing to do what was needed to protect their friends.

 

It was almost a day later when Xander woke up. He had a brief flash of disorientation, then snuggled at little closer to Oz. If Oz was asleep then things were okay. He could feel a dull ache from where he'd been stabbed as he went over the events in the Initiative. It was kind of blurry, but he remembered being stabbed and Oz saving him

He didn't realize his grip on Oz was tightening as he remembered seeing Oz shred that soldier. "Oz, Oz, can you wake up?" Xander asked.

"Hmm, Xander, you feel okay? Do you need anything?" Oz said, waking up quickly.

"Are you okay? Did everyone make it out alright?" Xander was ignoring the twinges of pain he was feeling as he moved to give Oz a once over, looking for any injuries.

"I'm fine," Oz said as he gently got Xander to lay back down. "Everyone made it out and there is no more Initiative. Do you want something to eat or need to go to the bathroom or anything?"

"In a minute. Are you really okay, man? Not going to do a runner on me or anything?" Xander tried to make it sound like a joke, but the hint of worry was pretty easy to catch.

"Thought about it. Willow threatened me, which gave me time to think," Oz smiled briefly. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm not going to leave Sunnydale or you. I can live with the wolf protecting my friends."

Xander pulled Oz down on top of him for a long kiss. "Thanks," was all Xander said when he broke the kiss. He didn't know what else to say, but he really believed Oz and wasn't worried about him leaving now.

"Hey, we're good for each other. Now did you want to take a shower while I make some food? Willow kinda made everyone leave to give us some time alone."

"This shower request is the smell thing again isn't it?" Xander asked with a grin. He was just enjoying the easy way he and Oz could slip back into joking after a little angst. "And Wills didn't do anything really embarrassing like leave 'supplies' for us did she?"

Oz was pulling Xander out of bed when he pointed over at the small brown paper sack on the dresser. "It's all in there. Be glad you were asleep, Xan. She showed me the contents in front of everyone. I think Angel actually smiled."

"I knew she'd do something like that. The whole sexual awakening made her a lot bolder about that stuff," Xander said with a snicker.

 

After dinner, Xander padded out to the living room to start a fire. He couldn't believe the meal Oz had whipped up with a real kitchen. There had been steak, potatoes and homemade biscuits. Xander had to remind himself he was to full to eat anymore. After he'd gotten the fire started he pulled his shirt up to check the wound. It was already healed with just some bruising to show where he'd been stabbed.

"All better? Oz asked as he turned off the light and sat down next to Xander in front of the fire.

"Yeah, I can hardly feel," Xander answered as he pulled Oz into his lap. Any further conversation was cut off by Xander pulling Oz into a kiss.

Xander wasn't sure how long they'd been making out when Oz got up. "I'll be right back, Xan," he whispered.

Xander watched him walk into the bedroom and walk back out a minute later with the brown bag in his hands. "Trying to tell me something?"

"You said you were feeling better and you were right about me not hurting you. I wish I hadn't killed that guy in the Initiative like that, but the wolf wouldn't have hurt you or even tried to bite you," Oz said and took a deep breath. "If you still… I mean if that whole thing didn't scare you off and you feel okay, I'm ready."

"Told you I trust you, and I'm ready for this," Xander said. Even if it felt a little awkward, it felt right at the same time. The room was just lit by the fire and the only sounds they could hear were the crackling logs and the occasional hoot of an owl outside. No awkward basement or worrying about people barging in.

This time when they went back to kissing the clothes started to slowly come off. There was no rush and they kept going until they were both naked. Oz started to lick various places and Xander stopped thinking. He felt Oz's tongue ghost over his chest, his arms, his thigh, and it seemed like every other part of his body other then his cock.

"Oh, fuck, yes, Oz!" Xander yelled as he felt Oz start to sniff and then lick his cock. Xander was squirming around as Oz figured out what he really liked. It took five minutes but Xander finally found the strength of will to grab Oz and pull him back into as kiss before things went too far.

Oz let Xander roll him over. He knew his eyes were flashing yellow and Xander had noticed it. Nothing was said about it though. Xander really trusted him, and Oz felt like the wolf just wanted to come out a little to enjoy what was happening. By the time Xander had worked his tongue down his chest he wasn't worrying about things like that anymore. He was pretty much reduced to mindless grunts. He made a disappointed noise when Xander sat up and rocked back on his heels.

"It's all going to be over too fast if I don't stop that," Xander said with an embarrassed grin as he reached into the bag and handed Oz some lube. "Your turn first." Xander laid down, avoiding Oz's eyes, but with an obvious blush.

Oz thought about asking Xander if he was sure, but discarded that idea quickly. He could tell that Xander wanted this in spite of his embarrassment. "Next time you take me," Oz said in a husky whisper as he thumbed the cap off the lube and crouched between Xander's legs. "Just tell me if you want me to stop at any point." Oz started working one finger into Xander. He was murmuring encouragement the whole time, but Xander didn't seem too comfortable.

"Umm, Oz, I think just kinda do it but really slow," Xander said. "It just… I'm not really liking this part. I mean I am but I want you not fingers. Am I making any sense?"

"Yeah, Dev was kinda that way, but I like the fingers thing," Oz said as he smoothed a good amount of lube over his cock. "I'm gonna lay down like this and you get on top." He urged Xander up and into a crouch over him. "Totally at your own speed. I won't move at all until you tell me to. We just go as far as you want to tonight. We got time. I'm not going anywhere."

Xander nodded and bit his lip as Oz lined them up then moved his lube covered hand to Xander's cock and gave it a few strokes. Xander was still biting his lip as he started to lower himself. He wanted to do this. He really wanted to do this, but he wasn't sure he could. He and had never gotten beyond hand jobs with Larry.

"Doing okay?" Oz asked as he felt himself just start to slide into Xander.

"Yeah, it's different, good but different," Xander gasped out as he kept sinking down on Oz's cock. He was almost all the way down when the head of Oz's cock brushed over his prostate. He bucked at the sensation and slammed the rest of the way down. "Good different," he mumbled again as he slumped forward toward Oz. "Um, you can move now if you want."

Oz arched up to kiss Xander. He knew he needed to give Xander a minute or two to get used to him and he blindly sought out Xander's cock with his hand while keeping the kiss going. Once he felt Xander start to relax he started up a rocking motion that let him thrust shallowly in and out of Xander.

It didn't take long after the buildup they'd had and they came at almost the same time. Xander totally collapsed on top of Oz. "Really good, better then I thought it would be," Xander said. "I'm glad you're staying."

"You're home," Oz said simply as he wrapped his arms around Xander.


End file.
